I’m not sure if a more vegan day could be had. My friend Melisser[1] took me shopping at Rainbow Grocery[2] with her chihuahua Strummer[3]. I guess I could just end this post right here and we would all die happy.

But, OK, whoever is still alive let’s soldier on.

The plan was to make matzoh balls for my goyemantisemites friends in San Francisco who had never had that ball which is a matzoh. We also wanted to try out our new Dandie vegan marshmallows[4]. See? Could we get any more vegan?

From the bundles of fresh greens to the overflowing bins of dried berries, Rainbow was mind blowing. You could hardly dream up a dish with the beautiful trumpet mushrooms before sensuous tendrils of enoki caught your eye. We settled on a menu of roasted root vegetables over baby arugula and hunza berries, cauliflower leek kugel, sauteed trumpet mushrooms with grilled red endive and toasted walnuts, roasted red pepper and kalamata hummus and of course the aforementioned matzoh balls.

We didn’t want dessert to be too fussy since we had so much going on. I remembered the salty sweet chocolate covered matzoh that I used to sneak before dinner at my grandma’s house (is there anything Jews won’t cover in chocolate?) and Melisser really wanted s’mores (well, who doesn’t?) and it seemed as if the clouds parted and we both shouted JEWISH SMORES! although I doubt it happened exactly like that.

So picture laying in the grass on a beautiful spring day, just warm enough that you can use your hoodie as a pillow rather than wear it. A big fluffy cloud passes overhead and you think “I want to eat that.” There you have the Dandie experience. I love these marshmallows. They’re firm enough to sink your teeth into while still being soft. Just the right amount of vanilla and a sweetness that isn’t cloyingly so. To make the Jewish S’mores, we dipped broken up pieces of matzoh in dark chocolate, placed some chopped ‘shmallows on top, drizzled in even more chocolate, then sprinkled with some coarse flaked salt and placed them on parchment to set. Perfection.

So 2 pound chihuahuas, vegan marshmallows, San Francisco, and friends not letting friends never have matzoh ball soup. Not a bad start to my spring.